I'm posting for a rescue dog whose adopters are not sure what is going on
with her, health-wise. She's a GSD who appears to have a sensitive stomach.
This has been an ongoing issue for some time. She has been on prescription
diets i/d and z/d ultra. She would be okay for a few weeks, and then have
diarrhea. She would also vomit, which has a little blood in it. Then she
would progress towards skipping one of her daily meals. They've tried a few
different prescription foods with the same results. She seems to be doing
fine on a bland diet of chicken and rice.

Don't know if this is related at all, but she seems to do a lot of head
shaking as well.

They're looking for guidance for what to do next. Any ideas?

Suja

Suja wrote:
I'm posting for a rescue dog whose adopters are not sure what is going on
with her, health-wise. She's a GSD who appears to have a sensitive stomach.
This has been an ongoing issue for some time. She has been on prescription
diets i/d and z/d ultra. She would be okay for a few weeks, and then have
diarrhea. She would also vomit, which has a little blood in it. Then she
would progress towards skipping one of her daily meals. They've tried a few
different prescription foods with the same results. She seems to be doing
fine on a bland diet of chicken and rice.

Don't know if this is related at all, but she seems to do a lot of head
shaking as well.

They're looking for guidance for what to do next. Any ideas?

Suja

Except for the head shaking symptom, it sounds like the very typical
GSD pancreatic insufficiency problems so common with the breed. They
will need to add pancreatic enzymes - Viokase, Pancreazyme etc which
can be obtained at the vet clinic only. If the dog still had problems
on z/d-Ultra, then food allergies are not the problem.

"Suja" wrote in message
news:dlzqf.195433$0l5.40187@dukeread06...
I'm posting for a rescue dog whose adopters are not sure what is going on
with her, health-wise. She's a GSD who appears to have a sensitive
stomach.
This has been an ongoing issue for some time. She has been on
prescription
diets i/d and z/d ultra. She would be okay for a few weeks, and then have
diarrhea. She would also vomit, which has a little blood in it. Then she
would progress towards skipping one of her daily meals. They've tried a
few
different prescription foods with the same results. She seems to be doing
fine on a bland diet of chicken and rice.

Don't know if this is related at all, but she seems to do a lot of head
shaking as well.
............I assume they've run some basic bloodwork? I'm wondering about
IBD, which can produce both diarrhea and vomiting. Have they done any other
testing - ultrasound/endoscopy?

......head shaking - are the ears clean? No skin issues?

.....if this were my dog I think I'd have a complete blood work up done,
perhaps even a 6 panel thyroid, and get the dog off grains just to see if it
did any good. People say GSDs have sensitive stomachs, but what they seem
to stomach the least are grains. Perhaps even add a digestive enzyme.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

I agree with Steve... this sounds like pancreatic insufficiency. One
of my shepherds also has it and has been on Viokase-V for 5+ years. I
read that 70% of the dogs who have this problem are german shepherds.
They are also more susceptible to bacterial overgrowth in the
intestines. The Viokase is not cheap when you get it from the vet... I
get mine from KV Vet Supply (www.kvvet.com) which is MUCH cheaper than
the vet ($115 for 12 oz granules versus $175).

The ear thing is probably not related but hopefully, their vet has
checked for a yeast infection or some other infection by now. My
shepherd is also prone to ear infections caused by allergies (possibly
food or inhalent).

Poor breeding probably but I love him anyway. :-)
Good luck to your friends and hugs to them for adopting!

Cathy